Car-coupling.



PATENTED JULY 28, 1903.

' S. P. BUSH.

UAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED-IAN. 22. 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

Q%VEN T OR 2 Attorney WITNESSES No. 734,813. PATENTED JULY 28. .1903.

S. P. BUSH.

GAR COUPLING. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22. 1902.

no MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 WITNESSES ff w lilo. 734,81.

UNITED STATES iatented July 28, 1903 PATENT OF ICE.

SAMUEL PRESCOTT BUSH, F COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE BUCKEYE MALLEABLE IRON AND QQUPLER COMPANY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 734,813, dated July 28, 1903. Application filed anuary 22, 1902 Elerial No. 90,837. (No model.)

To all whom itrmaty concern:

Be itknown that LSAMUEL PRESCOTT BUsH, of Columbus, in the-county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gar-Couplings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,

- such as will enable others skilled in the art to Timms November 5, 1901.

With this object in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim. 1

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side'view, partly broken away,illustrating' my improvements. Fig. 2 is a top view, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the locking-block removed; and Fig.4 is a view looking at the rear of the knuckle, showing the locking-block in its locked position.

mechanism, which when Operated will throw Open the knuckle, I will briefly describe the complete coupling, so as to'enable the construction and operation of the entire device to be clearly understood.

1 represents the coupling-head, to which is pivotally connected the knuckle 2 by a pin 3, and said knuckle 2 being made on its inner end with a tail 5, curved approximately concentric with the axis of the knuckle, and thecoupling is made with a hollow enlargement 6 toreceive the tail of the knuckle when the latter is closed.

7 represents the angular lockingblock which is mounted to move vertically in a chamber 8 in the coupling-head. The locking-block' is operated by a chain 9, secured thereto and extended up through an opening 10 in the coupling-head, which opening is located to one side of the center of the block 7, so as to give a lateral as Well as a vertical pull on the block to tip it to an inclined position, aswil'l more fully'hereinafter appear. A suitable cap or closure 10' is secured on one of the links of the chain to close the opening 10 when the knuckle is locked and prevent the chain from falling into the couplinghead. The block? is chambered, as at 11, to form the shoulder 12, which'latter is beveled or undercut, as shown in Fig. 3,, to engage the hook or seat 19, secured to or formed integral with the head 1 above the tail of the knuckle, the upper face of the hook or seat 19being similarly curved or beveled, so as to positively retain the block in its elevated position against accidental displacement. The block is made with a vertical groove 13 to receive a tongue 14 on the knuckle and securely lock the same in the head. The lower portion of the block 7 is cut away or recessed, as at 15, sufficiently to permit the tail of the knuckle to pass freely between a roller 16, mounted in the upper face Of the laterallyprojecting nose 20, at the lower end of the block, and a shoulder 17, formed by the recess in the block and located about midway between the ends thereof, for a purpose which will more fully hereinafterappear.

When it is desired to open the knuckle,

' the chain 9 is pulled upward to lift blot-k 7, While my invention relates to the locking drawing the grooved portion 13 thereof free from the tongue 14, and when the tail 5 of a the knuckle alines with the recessed portion 15 of'the blocka further upward pull on the chain will draw the roller 16 in an oblique direction against the beveled or inclined lower face of the tail and, Owing to the pressure of the roller 16 against the inclined tail of the knuckle, throw the latter to its extreme open position. When the pull on the chain is released, the shoulder 17 will rest on the knuckle-tail and remain thereon until the knuckle is closed, when the blockwill fall into-its locked position above described.

' If cars are coupled together and itis desired to unlock the knuckle withoutopening the same, the block 7 is drawn up far enough to aline the tail of the knuckle with the recessed portion 15 thereon, the chain exerting a lateral as well as a vertical pull on the block, tilting it and pulling the lip 12 over onto the seat 19, secured to or integral with the knuckle, and as the lip 12 and the seat 19 are slightly inclined the block will be retained in this inclined position, and thereby make it difficult to shake or jar it from off its seat.

The upper face of the tail of the knuckle from the tongue 14 rearwardly is approximately flat or horizontal, as shown at 5*, for the purpose of permitting the knuckle to turn in its opening movement some little distance before engaging the shoulder 17 of the locking-block for dislodging the latter from its set position, and the-upper surface of the curved edge of the tail from the point 5* to its rear end is upwardly inclined to engage the shoulder 17 of the locking-block and disengage it from its seat 19. face of the tail between the pivot-pin and the outer curved edge is made slightly convex or is inclined upwardly from its curved edge toward the pivot-pin of the knuckle, so as to engage the shoulder 17 near its free edge or its edge adjacent to the tail, and thus cause the locking-block to tip outwardly and carry the lip 12 out of the path of the hook 19, so that in the locking action of the knuckle when the locking-block is supported wholly on the tail of the knuckle the lip 12 descends in a plane outside of the plane of the seat 19, thus permitting the block to fall to its locked position without interference.

The locking-block is, as before stated, chambered to form a beveled shoulder 12, which when the block 7 is raised so that the locking-surface thereof clears that of the kn ucklearm it (the lock) will by reason of the diagonal or oblique movement given it by the chain engage with or rest on the corresponding seat or projection 19 formed on the coupling-head, and thus hold the lock in a suspended position independent of the knuckletail when the latter is in its closed or locked position. The locking-block 7 maintains this independent position relative to the knuckletail up to a position of the latter between that of fully closed and fully opened.

The upper sur- As the knuckle-tail swings outwardly a point in its movement is reached when it engages the locking'block, and continuing its movement moves the latter up and away from its support, completely disengaging the two, as before explained, and thus carrying the lock on the upper surface of the knuckle-tail and putting it into a position to drop into a locked position when the knuckle-tail shall have been swung to a closed or locked position.

The feature of improvementin the present device over that disclosed in the patent referred to is in the employment of a roller 16 on the locking-block instead of the fixed integral lip shown in said patent.

By the use of the roller, the locking-block bearing against the tail of the knuckle, the resistance offered in throwing the knuckle open by the upward movement of the lock is somewhat reduced.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is i In a car-coupling the combination with a draw-head, and a'knuckle pivotally mounted therein, and provided with a rearwardly-projecting tail having an inclined upper face and-an inclined lower edge, of a verticallymovable locking-block, a roller mounted in the upper face of the lower member of the block to engage the lower inclined edge of the knuckle-tail, said block provided with a shoulder to be engaged by the inclined upper face of said tail, and means within the draw-head for holding the locking-block out of its locked position, until released by contact with the inclined upper face of the knuckle-tail, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL PRESCOTT BUSII.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH STAFFONT, ARNO EBERLEIN. 

